Part 7 (1/2)
We visited Detaille's beautiful studio He was reatest admiration at that time Also Henriette Browne's and others, and, of course, the Luxe, so I drew e I saw in the army! I who could remember the Empire of lings, and druer: 1870 was over it all now Well, never mind, I have lived to see it in the ”_bleu d'horizon_” of a new and glorious day My Paris Diary winds up with: ”_December 14th_--Papa and I returned home from our Paris visit My eye has been very an as it rested on ht ago Ye Gods! what a deal I have to do to that picture before it will be fit to look at! I continue to receive droll letters and poe line of:
'Go on, go on, thou glorious girl!'
Very cheering”
CHAPTER X
MORE WORK AND PLAY
So I worked steadily at the big picture, finding the red coats very trying What would I have thought, when studying at Florence, if I had been told to paint a mass of men in one colour, and that ”brick-dust”?
However,me how the British red coat becomes blackish-purple here, pale salmon colour there, and so forth, under the influence of the weather and wear and tear I have all the days noted doith the auidance, and laave nicknaures in my picture, which I was amused to find, later on, was also the habit of Meissonier; one of ures I called the ”_Gas retarded in at the studio at 930 instead of 10, and work on till very late The porter at No 76 toldof all in The Avenue
[Illustration: PRACTISING FOR ”QUATRE BRAS”]
One day the Horse Guards, directed by their surgeon, had aschool at Knightsbridge (on deep sawdust) for et hints fro s and then let hied and snorted in clouds of dust till the final plunge, when the riding master and a trooper threw themselves on him to keep him dohile I made a frantic sketch ”What must it be,” I ask, ”when a horse is wounded in battle, if this painless proceeding can put him into such a state?”
The spring of 1875 was full of experiences forschool a charger was again 'put down' for ently this tithe horse's neck, as last ti full tilt atup at within two yards of where I stood, covering me with the sawdust I stood it bravely the _second_ tiot out of the way With 'Quatre Bras' incharged, but I fear my expression was much too feminine and pacific”
March 22nd gavehorse shot in mid-career I say: ”This _is_ a teaser I was tired out and faint when I got home” If that was a black day, the next was a white one: ”The sculptor, Boehavehorse Galloway also came He says 'Quatre Bras'
beats 'The Roll Call' into a cocked hat! He gave me 500 on account Oh!
the nice and strange feeling of easiness ofto refresh me at last, and my seven months' task is nearly accoe, who, it appears, gave each soldier inscrutiny and showed hoell he understood the points
On ”Studio Monday” the crowds ca The novelty, which amused me at first, had worn off, and I was vexed that such numbers arrived, and tried to put in a touch here and there whenever I could Millais' visit, however, I record as ”nice, for he was reat _gusto_ It is the drawing, character, and expression he most dwells on, which is a comfort But I must now try to improve my _tone_, I know And what about '_quality_'? To-day, Sending-in Day, Mrs Millais ca He considers er artist than Rosa Bonheur, and is greatly pleased with ') pleased
But I think it is a pity to make comparisons between artists I _may_ be equal to Rosa Bonheur in power, but hoidely apart lie our courses! I was so put out in the , to find the wretched photographers in possession I showed my vexation most un for Messrs dickinson So much ofat the picture when theat the nails behind How disagreeable!”
After doing a water colour of a Scots Grey orderly for the ”Institute,”
which Agnew bought, I was free at last to take my holiday So my Mother and I were off to Canterbury to be present at the opening of St
Thomas's Church there
”_April 11th, Canterbury_--To Mass in the wretched barn over a stable wherein a hen, having laid an egg, cackled all through the service And this has been our only church since the o, up till now, in the city of the great English Martyr But this state of things comes to an end on Tuesday”
This opening of St Tho as Cardinal, and it went off most successfully There were rows of Bishops and Canons and Monsignori and mitred Abbots, and monks and secular priests, all beautifully disposed in the Sanctuary The sun shone nearly the whole time on the Cardinal as he sat on his throne
After Mass cahter were indulged in Later on Benediction, and a visit to the Cathedral I rather winced when a group of men went down on their knees and kissed the place where the blood of St Tholican verger stared and did _not_ understand
On Varnishi+ng Day at the Academy I was evidently not enchanted with the position of my picture ”It is in what is called 'the Black Hole'--the only dark rooolden sun-glow in the others However, the artists see picture is conspicuous, for the centre of the line on that wall One academician told me that on account of the rush there would be to see it they felt they must put it there
This 'Lecture Rooinally meant for pictures and acts on the principle of a lobster pot You alleries and never find your way into it! I had the gratification of being told by RA after RA that my picture was in soratulated on having done as generally believedany important picture this year with the load and responsibility ofsuccess,' as they called it, of last year on my mind And that I should send such a difficult one, with so much more in it than the other, they all consider 'very plucky' I was not very happy h I know 'Quatre Bras' to be to 'The Roll Call' as a , and I stayed there to the end My picture was crowded, and I could see hoas being pulled to pieces and unmercifully criticised I returned to the studio, where I found a cha num opus_ After that hilarious ton House
I don't think, though, that Maive the RA's for the 'Black Hole'
”_April 30th_--The private view, to which Papa and I went It is very seldoets invited, but they ain this day contrasted very soberly with the dazzling PV
of '74 There were fewer great guns, and I was not torn to pieces to be introduced here, there, and everywhere,me already The same _furore_ cannot be repeated; the first time, as I said, can never be a second Papa and I and lots of others lunched over the way at the Penders' in Arlington Street, our hosts of last night, and it was all very friendly and nice, and we returned in a body to the RA afterwards I was surprised, at the big 'At Hoain, and people all so anxious to hear my answers to their questions Last year I felt all this more keenly, as it had all the fascination of novelty This year just the faintest atoone
”_May 3rd_--To the Acade multitude before my picture The whole place was crowded so that before 'Quatre Bras' the jammed people numbered in dozens and the picture was most completely and satisfactorily rendered invisible It was chaos, for there was no policeman, as last year, to make people move one way They clashed in front of that canvas and, in struggling to wriggle out, lunged right against it Dear little Mamma, as there nearly all the time of our visit, told ret, I find I get recognised (I suppose from my latest photos, which are more like me than the first horror) and the report soon spreads that I am present So I wander about in other rooms I don't knohy I feel so irritated at starers One can have a little tooin this world is without its drawbacks I see I am in for ive ives me its entire article _The Times_ leads off with me because it says 'Quatre Bras'
will be the picture the public ant to hear about most It seems to be discussed from every point of view in a way not usual with battle pieces But that is as it should be, for I hope my enerally thought necessary to enre_
”_May 4th_--All of us and friends to the Academy, where we had a lively lunch, Mahted with the success and half terrified at the danger the picture was in frolanced between the people, and could only see a head of a soldier at a time A nice notion the public must have of the _tout ensemble_ of my production!”
I was afloat on the London season again, sometimes with o out in the evenings, being too fatigued frorettable sleeplessness There was a dinner or At Home nearly every day, and occasionally a dance or a ball
At one of the latter my partner infor All this was fun for the time At a crowded afternoon At Hoers from the opera were herded, and nearly cracked the too-narroalls of those tiny roo fro his 'Otello,' whichthe other night, fresh in my ue-tied with nervousness that I could only feebly say _'Quasi, quasi piangevo!' 'O! non bisogna piangere,'_ poor Salvini kindly answered To tell him I nearly cried! To tell the truth, I was much too painfully impressed by the terrific realism of the murder of Desdemona and of Othello's suicide to _cry_ I have been told that, when Othello is chasing Desdemona round the room and finally catches her for the murder, women in the audience have been known to cry out 'Don't!' And I told hih!”